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Goblins
The goblins are a people without a true history -- the orcs saw to that. As far back as the smaller race recalls, they were enslaved by the orcs and forced to serve as their peons and servants, alongside another race of small stature, the gnomes. The orcs bred enmity between the two races, such that they competed with each other rather than cooperated to defeat their masters. The goblins were denied the ability to form their own culture; instead they existed mostly in the shadow of the orcs of Happat Utthuk, ignorant as to their origins or of a life beyond resentment and servitude. About seventy years ago, however, the Grand Confederation of elves, dwarves, halflings and humans attacked the orcs of Happat Utthuk and overthrew them. One of the Confederation's demands was the liberation of all the orcs' slaves. The goblins were overjoyed -- until they realized that their hated enemies, the gnomes, had also been liberated, and had been invited into the Grand Confederation first. When the goblins were asked to join, many turned their backs on their supposed "saviors," who they suspected just wanted to turn them into other kinds of slaves. Since then, goblins have eked out an existence on the edges of the Grand Confederation's territory. Many survive as guttersnipes within the cities of other races; others have retreated to new-formed goblin villages in undeveloped territories, trying to create their own culture. Most of what they have to work with, however, is pain and resentment, and goblin villages tend to be dour, dangerous places. The appearance of the hobgoblins of Kal Kathorn gave many goblins a spark of hope. After all, it is obvious to anyone that the two races are cousins. Several goblin tribes packed up as soon as they heard the news and went to join in the war effort against the elves of Unuviel Belore. However, they were greeted with a strange and unsettling attitude from their orange relatives: yes, the hobgoblins did see the resemblance between the two races. That meant only that goblins were fit to be slaves and peons of the hobgoblin empire instead of being killed. The goblins have as a whole taken this development as further evidence of their being hated by the gods. The future of the goblins is quite uncertain: they have few allies, but also few true enemies. Instead the newly-freed race looks around at a vast sea of uncomfortable neighbors and tries to determine which is least likely to stab them in the back this time. For the moment they seem to be throwing their lot in with the remnants of the Grand Confederation -- but only until those races make their intentions clear and force the goblins away again. Regions Goblins tend to grow up in the cities of the Algostam or in their own villages near Filtwar. Most cities, except for Khazdheart, have a "goblin ghetto." Racial Traits *'–2 Strength, +4 Dexterity, –2 Charisma': Goblins are fast, but weak and unpleasant to be around. *'Small': Goblins are Small creatures and gain a +1 size bonus to their AC, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, a –1 penalty to their CMB and CMD, and a +4 size bonus on Stealth checks. *'Fast': Goblins are fast for their size, and have a base speed of 30 feet. *'Darkvision': Goblins can see in the dark up to 60 feet. *'Hatred:' Goblins receive a +1 bonus on attack rolls against humanoid creatures of the gnome and orc subtypes. *'Skilled': +4 racial bonus on Ride and Stealth checks. *'Languages': Goblins begin play speaking Common and Goblin. Goblins with high Intelligence scores can choose any of these bonus languages: Draconic, Dwarven, Gnoll, Gnome, Halfling, Orc.